The Diamondbacks are expected to begin the year without catcher/first baseman Adrian Del Castillo. Manager Torey Lovullo said Monday that the 26-year-old is dealing with a left calf injury that’ll keep him out of game action for the bulk of Spring Training (link via Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports). He’ll be reassessed closer to Opening Day but it seems unlikely he’ll get enough exhibition reps to avoid a season-opening injured list stay.
Del Castillo is third on the catching depth chart after Gabriel Moreno and James McCann. He nevertheless had a strong chance to win a bench job if healthy. Tyler Locklear will begin the season on the IL as he rehabs elbow and shoulder surgeries. The lefty-hitting Del Castillo has a fair bit of first base and designated hitter experience. Arizona doesn’t have a ton of position player depth on the 40-man roster, leaving a couple bench jobs up for grabs.
After an encouraging 25-game debut two years ago, Del Castillo struggled last season. He struck out 47 times in 131 plate appearances (a near-36% rate) while hitting .242/.290/.392 over 44 games. The Miami product has posted strong numbers throughout his minor league career, but they’ve always come with a concerning level of swing-and-miss. He’s a below-average defensive catcher, putting more pressure on the bat if most of his work comes in the first base/DH mix.
Pavin Smith and Carlos Santana are projected for a first base platoon. They’ll also get a decent number of DH reps, while Lovullo said Ketel Marte will log some time there in addition to his primary second base work. The D-Backs are reportedly poking around the trade market for a utility piece after they dealt Blaze Alexander to Baltimore for reliever Kade Strowd and a pair of minor leaguers. They’ll ideally find someone with more offensive punch than Tim Tawa and non-roster invitees Ildemaro Vargas and Jacob Amaya to play that role.
The bottom half of the lineup would be an even bigger concern if Corbin Carroll opens the season on the IL. Arizona’s star right fielder will miss most of Spring Training following last week’s hamate surgery. The hope is for Carroll to make it back by the beginning of the regular season. Fellow outfielder Alek Thomas tells Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic that he’s working mostly between left and center field with the expectation that Carroll will be in his typical position on Opening Day.
Thomas has played all three outfield positions in the minor leagues. He has played exclusively center field as a big leaguer, logging more than 3000 innings up the middle. Thomas is a quality defender who shouldn’t have any issue adjusting to a corner if the D-Backs need him to move around. Arizona is trying to get Jordan Lawlar acclimated to playing center field.
Lawlar has a higher offensive ceiling than Thomas has shown over 420 MLB contests, so the latter would be best suited for a fourth outfield role if everyone’s healthy. They’ll probably need both players in the starting lineup to begin the season, as Lourdes Gurriel Jr. will also open the year on the injured list after last summer’s ACL injury. Thomas could be a stopgap left fielder until Gurriel returns and/or prospect Ryan Waldschmidt plays his way to the big leagues.
There’s a fair bit of opportunity in one of the more top-heavy lineups in MLB. Carroll, Marte, Moreno and Geraldo Perdomo make for an excellent top half of a batting order. Nolan Arenado is on the downside of his career but should still be a solid everyday third baseman. The bottom third of the lineup and most of the bench is a lot less established.
It’s not quite as extreme on the pitching side, but there are some parallels. Free agent returnees Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen are locked into the rotation; Lovullo has already named Kelly his Opening Day starter. Ryne Nelson figures to have a mid-rotation spot secure, but the Diamondbacks aren’t making any firm commitments beyond that.
“I can’t even really make comments about any projections or what the starting rotation is going to look like,” Lovullo told reporters (including Steve Gilbert of MLB.com). Right now, it looks as if Eduardo Rodriguez, Brandon Pfaadt and Michael Soroka are battling for two spots. Rodriguez and Soroka will be on the MLB roster, but Pfaadt has a pair of minor league options and could open the season in Triple-A. Soroka has the most experience of that group in a swing role and would be the most familiar with pitching in long relief if the D-Backs want all six pitchers on the active roster with a five-man rotation. One injury might take the decision out of Lovullo’s hands, but it’s another camp battle that Arizona fans will want to follow during exhibition play.
Trading Alexander made no sense and left a big hole on the bench. There isn’t much left in free agency unless the D’backs want to sign of the Urias’
Losing Alexander hurt even before all the injuries started popping up. He was a versatile defender that showed improved plate discipline with regular ABs and provided some spark inside the clubhouse. That said, the Dbacks desperately need BP arms, like Strowd, that can potentially pitch high leverage innings and the cost was gonna hurt.
Can’t even make it to spring training without a million injuries what is going on
Anxious to see how the rotation shakes out behind Kelly, Nelson and Gallen. I’d like to see Pfaadt and Soroka earn the SP 4&5 slots, but given that Soroka is probably limited to 20ish starts and 100+ innings, I’m guessing he’s the odd man out to start the season. Injuries and/or underperformance will inevitably provide Soroka an opportunity to join the rotation before seasons end.
Perfect bad contract swap: Eduardo Rodriguez for Andrew Benintendi and a prospect or two.
Snakes save $4 million in 2026, $4 million in 2027, and $6 million in 2028. With Gurriel out, Benintendi is more useful than Rodriguez. Win-win.
So trading our only lefty starter
Doesn’t sound like a win win
Rodriguez is technically not the only LHSP; Walston should be back within the first months of the season, both Bratt/Drake are currently on the 40-Man, and Giesting/Lin are borderline 40-Man guys.
The last two names probably have a ceiling of what Rodriguez projects for right now (and I don’t know that we can even count on that much from Walston), but Bratt/Drake both have a degree of upside the Rodriguez does not IMO.
The Dbacks need all their veteran SPs, but I would entertain offers on ERod. Hopefully, Kelly, Nelson, Gallen, Pfaadt and Soroka can stay injury free until Burnes is healthy and Bratt/Drake/Mena are ready for the bright lights of Phoenix. Knowing each team will ultimately need 7-10 SPs throughout the season, the Dbacks should have better depth options as the year progresses.
The over/under on Arizona is at 79.5 wins in Vegas.
They finished with 80 wins last season with big contributions from Suarez and Naylor into August.
Rotation didnt get any better. Bullpen could be real bad.
They could have a season where a pair of rookies (Lawler, Locklear, Del Castillo, Waldschmitt) emerge and the old guys (Arenado and Santana) find their youth but they aren’t built to win games with a team that doesn’t score a lot of runs. They need three or four of those guys to hit this season.
It is a good number at 79.5, there is some doubt in the under, in an article posted by ESPN a few days ago, their guys Derek Carty and Todd Zola took the over. FG projects them at 81-81.
I like the under.
They are a team that scores a lot of runs
I can see the D’Backs having a lot of high scoring games for most of their wins, it’s going to put a lot of pressure on a lineup to score runs every game. With the starters going on the average of 5 innings per start and a bullpen that will rank near the bottom of the NL. This lineup better average around 7 to 8 runs a game. This bullpen they have put together is nothing to write home about, in fact it would not surprise me if this 2026 edition of the D’Backs is out of the race around June, which means a lot of airline miles between Phoenix and Reno shuttle of pitchers for the bullpen. I say final W/L is around 76 and 86.
The Dbacks need to hover around .500 until they get healthy this summer. Also, the BP needs some pleasant surprises like Miller and Beeks last year. Hazen has acquired Thompson, Sewald and Puk at various deadlines, so he’s shown an ability to find sneaky good RP. He will need to have done his best work at last years deadline and this off-season… fingers crossed.
Is their lineup as good it was last season?
In ’25:
Arenado hit .237 with 12 HRs
Santana hit .229 with 11 HRs
None of their rookies hit at the big league level.
Tawa (.201), Del Castillo (.242), Locklear (.175), Barrosa (.141)
Alek Thomas is a career .234/.277/.362 hitter.
Gurriel is coming of knee surgery and hasn’t swung a bat in months.
Marte could also be traded.
Perdono marte carroll moreno smith gurriel del castillo arrenado thomas
Perdomo, Marte, Carroll — A
Moreno, Smith, Gurriel — C
Del Castillo, Arenado, Thomas — D
They could have a good defense.
Lawlar del castillo and smith teaming up to be best bench in baseball. Lovello gets into a rhythm with those guys starting and pinch hitting those c and d become a’s. Oakland a’s